Brian, Kristine, Analise, and Josiah Toone

825 mile ride to the coast via 60,000 feet of climbing in 5 states, including 4 state high points! 5 states, 4 state high points, 34 counties, lots of adventure! Click to enlarge and see detail. Title Distance Climbing Moving Time Elapsed Time Day 1 – AL to GAMt Cheaha (2407′) 184.6 mi 14,365 ft […]

Kristine and the kids out on the shoals in the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge outside West Blocton. I met them there 150+ miles into the ride. It was great to cool off and swim with them in the river amongst all the Cahaba River Lilies! The Cahaba River is the “longest free-flowing river in […]

Listening to introductions from Samford University’s Rosemary Fisk before the start of the 12th annual Old Howard Century on the campus of Judson College nearby Samford’s original location in Marion, Alabama. The ride down to Old Howard “Let’s meet at the I-65 bridge at 3:15AM.” Sounds to me like planning a meeting with the mafia, […]

Skyway 2016 100 mile podium. Left-to-right: Jeff Clayton, Brian Toone, and Hefin Jones. I was freezing cold after the race so I donned a skull cap and my winter jacket thinking I’d take it off right before the podium but then my zipper was stuck and I couldn’t get the jacket off. Oh well!!! Shout […]

One of the lessons that I learned the hard way during RAAM is that it really doesn’t matter how much power you can put out on the bike. It doesn’t matter how long you can sustain a Zone 5 heartrate. It doesn’t even matter a great deal how fast you ride your bike. The only […]

I had intended to post some pics and videos from our Christmas up in Wisconsin before the end of the year so that I could have at least one post in 2015 on toonesalive — but I forgot! So I’m retroactively posting and re-dating this for 2015. Enjoy!

Summary
We hit the tailend of a snowstorm on our way up. There wasn’t much snow, but we did end up an unplowed portion of Hwy 53 between Eau Claire and Shell Lake with an inch or so of new snow. We were driving along at 50mph (getting passed by people going even faster) and hit a deeper patch of snow on the righthand side of the car. This turned the car sideways, which I immediately countersteered (in the direction of the slide) to correct. Unfortunately, the tires grabbed and we slid the other way towards the median. I counter-steered again and this time it straightened out. Fortunately, this second part happened at a highway crossover so there was extra room in the middle otherwise we would have ended up off the road in the middle. This was an exciting end to an 18 hour overnight drive.

It snowed again very lightly a few times while we were up there, but it was mostly dry and about average temps. I got some long mountain bike rides and a few fat bike rides in to take me up over 30,000 miles for the year and complete the Rapha Festive 500. One of the fat bike rides was quite the adventure ending well after dark in light snow, which is fun to watch in a helmet mounted light (looks like a blizzard).

A very wet and WARM Christmas morning ride.

The vesclub mountain goats celebrating Christmas.

Analise trying out her new lacrosse stick.

18 hours of driving later, we arrived in the winter wonderland of Northwestern Wisconsin.

Temps were exactly 50 degF cooler than when we left Birmingham.

I was so excited to see all the snow, I got my mountain bike out and went riding around town. Salem Lutheran church in the background.

The Shell Lake walleye sign with a frozen Shell Lake in the background.

We went sledding later in the afternoon. This was the first snow that Shell Lake had had in December so there were lots of people out sledding.

Walking to church on Sunday.

Family picture at Salem Lutheran.

The Timberland Hills firetower.

First icebeard of the trip.

River otter or beaver tracks.

Everything was icy so I rode on platform pedals for the first couple days.

Icebeard from my second ride.

Icebeard from my third ride – midride before switching over to fat bike.

Fat bike portion of my ride – crossing the Namekagon River.

This sign is hilarious to us because I lost my camera near hear when trying to take a picture of a turtle on a log while kayaking. We’ve always joked that there is a turtle taking and selling digital pictures using my camera.

Ice beard at heartwood after riding from Hayward on a fat bike.

Heartwood conference center, heading out to complete 30,000 miles for the year.

Fat bike in a bit deeper snow.

Ice beard before tubing with the kids towards the end of my ride.

Josiah tubing / rolling down the hill.

Analise enjoyed eating the snow more than playing in it.

Josiah and I after tubing.

Riding aross the frozen Hoinville Lake to get to our rental cabin in Heartwood.

Josiah heading out for a ski.

Analise heading out for a ski with Josiah, Kristine, and I.

Kristine and I went back out to ski the long trail which is the only place to see the Namekagon River.

Kristine and I during our ski.

Ice beard after making it back to Shell Lake.

Star Wars at the Spooner Palace.

The Spooner Palace complete with a stage and curtains.

The final day of riding, I started out on the fat bike trails and crashed on a very icy road on the way to the trail.

The fat bike trails intertwine with the Birkiebeiner ski trails.

Seely Pass fat bike trail – awesome!

Ice beard after making it back to Shell Lake after super long adventure in the snow!

Driving home to Alabama, we first swung by the high point of Wisconsin – Timms Hill – with ice fishermen in the foreground.

I was just looking back at this blog and realized we hadn’t made a single post in 2014. Well, here we go with just a few hours to go left in 2014. Here’s a link to some of the videos of fun we’ve had so far this year up in Wisconsin.

There’s nothing like having a good sledding hill right out the back door. I went with the kids to do some sledding down the hill to the old high school football field and got some good videos — including this first one — a “sledcam” view of me crashing into a ditch and then Josiah crashing into me a few seconds later.

Yesterday, I had a chance to bike back to Shell Lake from the cabin. Along the way I rode over a couple frozen lakes and down the sledding hill at the cabin with the kids. Here’s a bikecam video of me riding over a lake and then bike sledding with the kids:

We made the 18 hour drive up from Birmingham yesterday, and the kids were so excited to be in the snow that they were skiing and sledding around the house while Kristine and I got caught up on a bit of sleep. Then today we went up to Spooner for a kids 1K ski race – their first ski race. I got lots of pics and videos from the day — here are some of the best…

It has been a while since we posted here … it’s been busy in the Toone Times … Josiah is in first grade now and has been taking karate for the past few months. This past Thursday he passed his belt testing, and tonight was the belt ceremony. I got videos of both events below (the belt testing is split up into two parts) –

Also, Analise was in the Lakeside Christmas performance, see the video of her choir singing below –

Let’s face it… if you’re a mother like I am, then you are anticipating Mother’s Day this weekend. And without a doubt, we deserve to be recognized and appreciated. But with 7 Mother’s Days behind me, I realized a few things this week that I’ve learned, and I share them now in the hopes that you won’t be disappointed with this special day.

First off, if your husband is anything like most men,realize that your husband can’t read your mind. Unless you’ve dropped some blatant reminders, he may not even realize that Mother’s Day is this weekend. So don’t just sit back and *hope* he has an amazing day planned. He needs your help. Figure out what would make you the happiest – within reason for him & the family budget – and gently tell him. Of course I’d love a weekend away, flowers & chocolate, a manicure/pedicure, a massage, and a maid to clean the house top to bottom, but that’s unrealistic. (Even any one of those seems too extravagant & expensive to me, right now!) But personally, starting the day with a few extra minutes of sleep & not having to worry about feeding anyone all day would be a blessing to me. Help a husband out and let him know. Or if you have something in mind that you’d like… send him a link! He surely wants to bless you for all you do, but if he’s like most of the men I know, he’s swamped with a busy life of his own. He’ll love you even more for not letting him forget 🙂

Second, settle your heart before God that He is well pleased with your service to your family. Sure the affirmation and praise of our family feels good. I promise I long to hear it as much as you do! But it is fleeting. And ultimately, our hearts will be most satisfied when we are at rest in the service we are giving to Him. He is glorified in every sacrificial moment we give as moms! He sees every sock you match, every dish you wash, every gentle word you speak to your children, every diaper you change. And He is most pleased when we make the hard choice to do these things joyfully. Even if they’re not all joyful actions (and believe me, not all mine are!), He alone knows the depths of our hearts and He alone can give you joy as a mother that will last beyond the chocolate & flowers. When you find quiet confidence in this, you will have gained the most priceless and lasting Mother’s Day gift possible.

Lastly, it may be one special day on a calendar, but we can celebrate our calling as moms every day. Last year, my Mother’s Day was spent at a bike race (the 3rd in 3 days). I tweeted this (thanks Timehop!):

“Yay! A portapotty!” What my kids expect on day 3 of a bike race wknd. Such troopers! How else would I want to spend Mother’s Day? #luckymom

And I remember thinking, I could have a bad attitude that this day isn’t about me. But the choice was mine, and so I chose to celebrate it as God gave it to me. It’s a good thing my heart was settled and at rest, because we ended the day in the emergency room after a bike crash, and believe me… Mother’s Day was forgotten by all. So I know that I’ll be rejoicing with any Mother’s Day that’s not spent at the hospital!

But moms… I am praying for you! YOU are amazing. Let God be your rest & your reward this weekend as you celebrate serving Him through the gifts He’s given you.

“We are Easter people, living in a Good Friday world.” (Barbara Johnson)

Redeemed… is there a better message for the month of Easter? I think not. And each day that we get further away from Easter, we need to be reminded, as above, that we are Easter people, living in a Good Friday world. I was lucky enough to receive a tangible reminder of this message from Dayspring, a beautiful makeup bag and wallet from their “Redeemed” collection. What a sweet gift that arrived just in time for my birthday!

This makeup bag is made of oilcloth, and besides being gorgeous, it will be so functional. I’m sure I’ll use the wallet daily, and the sweet message on the other side says “truly treasured”. Thanks, Dayspring, for the perfectly timed gifts for this Easter season and all year! Anything in their Redeemed collection would make an amazing gift, and there are so many things to choose from. Head on over to Dayspring and see for yourself… the banner below will take you to a bunch of other reviews and some giveaways with GREAT odds of winning something for yourself! (I’m sending you over there with a dose of my good luck!! Go on!!)

Well, I’m going to try to resurrect things here. A fewsweetfriends have inspired me, and there are so many sweet/funny/delicious/memorable things I could be sharing… as much for our looking-back pleasure as for others to enjoy. So here goes…

I’ll start with notable recipes, because there have a been a few lately.

This Rueben Braid was AMAZING. My apologies to everyone who’s heard me rave about it in person, on Twitter or on Facebook. But I cannot believe how easy it was, how impressive it looked, and how everyone in the family ate it. Surely I’ll be making it often. (notes: I filled mine with turkey & swiss and a little Thousand Island dressing. Don’t skimp on the cheese. Roll it out directly on your parchment or heavily flour your mat. Otherwise, you’ll have a hard time transferring it. And it won’t rise much, but it will rise in the oven.)

I made these sweet Chocolate Strawberry Donuts for Valentine’s Day. Delicious. This morning I used the same recipe with a French Vanilla Cake mix & mini chips (this morning’s treat) with a chocolate glaze… so yummy. When you need a chocolate donut, though, this recipe cannot be beat. I think the coffee makes the flavor stand out more. YUM. If you don’t have a donut pan and you like breakfast treats, it’s so worth having. And I was over-the-moon excited to find a cute heart-shaped donut pan at Target for $5. WOOHOO!

Thin Mints… you might have seen on Facebook that January/February was super busy with Girl Scout cookies. My sweet little Brownie sold 203 boxes initially (which “won” her a fleece roll-up blanket thingy – wooho! and yes, a tiny bit of sarcasm there…), and in the continued orders/booth sales, she boosted her total to 324 boxes. Whew! That is ALOT of boxes of cookies to deliver, to say nothing of the money-tracking for Mom. Oddly enough, I didn’t end up with quite as many boxes for myself as I did last year. And I’m down to only 2 boxes of Thin Mints already. Sadness. But this week, I used two boxes in recipes that were really worthy of those precious cookies. I made these melt-in-your-mouth Thin Mint Truffles as a little Spring Break treat for the teachers. I made them last year for a MOPS mom who had just had a baby, and she loved them so much, she could hardly wait for Girl Scout cookie season to arrive so she could make them (note… I think, as a last resort, you could probably use Keebler Grasshopper cookies. But that wouldn’t be quite as special). I also made these Thin Mint Ice Cream Cups (from the same awesome blog!) for our weekly Life Group. They were, of course, well-received.

I just wondered about the delicious Girl Scout Samoas cookies and how they’d work in a truffle… Lo and behold, the same amazing blogger made them here. I’ll have to try them soon!

That’s enough for now… I promise I’ll be back with more little news and recipes soon.

We haven’t posted here in a while so I’m not sure who still reads this blog – but Analise, Josiah, and I had a great adventure this past Sunday while Kristine was running her half-marathon in Florida. We walked through the woods to Lakeside where Analise was helping host a Sunday evening coffee house with the rest of the GA’s. These are the pics that me and Josiah took (mostly Josiah – he was quite the photographer)

Analise all dressed up and ready to serve – posing for a picture in front of her dogwood tree.